Ashley Giles took charge of the England team yesterday for the next five months and began by meeting Paul Downton as the inquest into England’s Ashes tour continued.

Giles could emerge as an important voice in the decision on the future of Kevin Pietersen, as Downton pieces together the report that will determine how England recover from their 5-0 whitewash.

The first decision will be whether to include Pietersen in the provisional World Twenty20 squad which has to be submitted to the International Cricket Council on Jan 16. An ICC spokesman confirmed it is not mandatory for England to name that provisional 30-man squad publicly but nevertheless England have to decide if Pietersen will be part of it. The squad will be trimmed down to 15, to be announced on Feb 16.

Pietersen has played only one international Twenty20 match in almost two years but his experience of subcontinental conditions through his exposure to the IPL could be invaluable to a young England side playing their early matches in Chittagong, one of the slowest pitches in Bangladesh.

Pietersen was confined to the television studio as an analyst for ESPN during the last World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka as it occurred at the height of the ‘Textgate’ row. Without Pietersen, England surrendered their World Twenty20 title as they struggled against spinners, missing Pietersen’s power hitting.

Downton met Giles in Melbourne as part of an initial round of meetings which will next take him to Perth to watch the England women’s Ashes Test.

Giles takes control of England until the end of May, beginning with the five-match one-day series against Australia, before a tour to the West Indies, the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh and five one-day internationals at home against Sri Lanka.

The participation of Pietersen will be the first clue as to whether his days with England are numbered.

His IPL commitments will become clearer today when his franchise, the Delhi Daredevils, announce their retained list. Delhi can re-sign five players, with the rest entering the auction on Feb 12 hoping to win a three-year contract with another franchise. Delhi look set to retain Pietersen, who could then face a choice between the IPL and England if Flower demands players appear in county cricket to gain selection for the first Test against Sri Lanka in early June.

Giles will have been planning for the World Twenty20 during the Ashes tour watching closely the performances of Alex Hales and Luke Wright, who have been starring in the Big Bash tournament, providing rare successes by Englishmen in Australia.

Giles will be judged ultimately on how England perform at the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year and with Jonathan Trott’s future uncertain, Pietersen could be a major player in the one-day team. He has played only nine 50-over matches since February 2012, a period which includes his self-imposed exile from one-day cricket, and made little impression opening the batting against Australia at the end of last summer.

But if Giles makes it clear to Downton he believes Pietersen has a future at one-day level, and crucially, that he can manage him within the dressing room, it could pose a problem for Flower if he wants him out of the Test set-up. When Giles was appointed England’s one-day coach in November 2012 his friend and former team-mate, Michael Vaughan, wrote in The Daily Telegraph he would be able to get the best out of Pietersen. “I have not known a player get on better with KP. That will help in the next couple of years. He knows how to communicate to Kevin.”

Giles has had to deal with leading a depleted England team in major series. They rested five senior players for the one-dayers against Australia last summer and Pietersen, James Anderson and Graeme Swann for this forthcoming series, although the latter subsequently retired anyway.